Ayaneo 3 review – powerful performance and great design let down by Windows

The Ayaneo 3 is highly effective, trendy, and most significantly, modern. From the modular controls and the OLED display screen to the adjustable system reminiscence and improved Ayaspace software program, virtually all the pieces concerning the Ayaneo 3 makes a handheld just like the Steam Deck really feel entry-level. Sadly, it’s additionally a irritating gadget to make use of at occasions, however I’d nonetheless suggest it to anybody who’s fascinated about coming into the world of handheld gaming PCs or is in search of a serious energy improve from the Steam Deck.

The Ayaneo 3 is well top-of-the-line handheld gaming PCs in comparison with its rivals, that being different Home windows-based gadgets. The extent of freedom I’ve on this handheld is refreshing, and if classes are discovered from the few shortfalls the Ayaneo 3 possesses, future gadgets have an opportunity of really dethroning Valve, the Steam Deck, and presumably even SteamOS within the handheld market.

Specs

Design

The Ayaeno 3’s design is kind of primary at first look, however it’s upon nearer inspection, and extra importantly, upon holding it in my palms that the significance of refined design selections shines via. One such occasion is the molding of the rear grips. Quite than utilizing the bulging design utilized by most handhelds to create a generally clunky grip on your palms and fingers to latch onto the console, the Ayaneo 3 as an alternative has two pronounced humps, permitting the hand held to take a seat far more naturally in hand like a normal Xbox controller.

My index finger sits naturally within the curvature of the left and proper triggers, with the left and proper mouse click on inputs simply inside attain. Down the rear of the hand held, it’s easy sufficient to regulate your grip to have both your center or ring finger sit upon the rear buttons. The 690g weight additionally doesn’t really feel too heavy and there’s no weight imbalance or bias to both aspect of the hand held.

On the entrance of the Ayaneo 3, the large speaking level is the modular controls. On all sides of the Ayaneo 3, the controls are contained in small items that may be popped out of the gadget, switched round, and even changed with alternate management items. That is the primary Home windows handheld to supply such a characteristic, and it really works very effectively.

Within the Ayaspace fast menu, there’s a devoted tab to the controls, and on the contact of a button you’ll be able to pop up one, or each of the management modules. New modules are put in by gently urgent them into the open slots, with an audible click on letting you understand after they’re related. Whereas this all screamed ‘gimmick’ to me initially, in observe, it’s a terrific characteristic to have.

I’ve discovered that whereas I typically desire asymmetrical controls for many video games, I desire to have symmetrical thumbsticks for driving video games, and it’s good to have the ability to make this change on the Ayaneo 3. It’s definitely helpful to have this characteristic, even when it wouldn’t essentially be the primary purpose you’d purchase the Ayaneo 3.

My one criticism is that the magic modules are offered individually generally. This implies it prices extra, on prime of an already massive preliminary outlay, to realize full entry to a characteristic used closely to promote the hand held.

The thumbsticks are Corridor Impact, which means stick drift is closely decreased, whereas the triggers additionally use what’s listed as “restricted Corridor Impact.” however no additional readability if supplied on what precisely is proscribed about it. There may be additionally a change to rework every set off right into a micro-action one-click change, decreasing the overall journey distance of the triggers for faster activation. A magnetic suspension motor is used to energy vibration, and whereas it isn’t overwhelmingly highly effective, it nonetheless supplies an honest kick when activated, and its energy will be adjusted within the Ayaspace menu.

Elsewhere on the Ayaeno 3, the highest and rear followers do some severe heavy lifting to maintain the console cool beneath heavy masses, however they’re extraordinarily loud when working at 100%. The sensible fan characteristic will be certain that they solely kick in when wanted although, so in case you desire gaming at a decrease TDP this shouldn’t be an excessive amount of of an issue.

As for inputs, there are two USB-C ports, one on the highest and one on the underside of the console. The ability button has a built-in fingerprint sensor and sits alongside the amount controls on prime of the console, with an OCuLink enter rounding off the highest I/O. On the underside, along with the USB-C port, there’s a 3.5mm jack and a lined microSD card slot. There may be additionally a button for switching between management profiles. This button has a helpful LED to point which profile is chosen.

I’m reviewing the Starry Black mannequin of the Ayaneo 3, and it’s a little bit of a nightmare to maintain clear of fingerprints and smudges. The entrance of the gadget is usually gloss, whereas the rear is matte. On either side, it’s very straightforward to go away a mark together with your palms, and cleansing the gadget feels futile given that you simply’re prone to make it once more the second you choose it up. Ayaneo has additionally made Sky White and Retro Energy colours out there, each of which appear to deal a lot better with this situation from what I’ve seen to this point.

Working system

That is the one part of my Ayaeno 3 testing that’s largely destructive, and it’s principally as a result of Home windows nonetheless isn’t a handheld-friendly working system. Whereas I perceive it’s more than likely the best and most cost-effective working system for builders to make use of, and it supplies the widest vary of appropriate video games, it additionally opens the door to too many issues and quirks that, whereas minor, are irritating.

Within the case of the Ayaneo 3, typically a sport wouldn’t enable for fullscreen to stretch the chosen decision to the complete native 1080p show, for instance. This implies when making an attempt to benchmark at 720p, it might appear like a smaller 720p field throughout the 1080p show. The way in which round that is easy, simply decrease the default decision of the hand held, however why ought to I’ve to do that for one thing so simple as a decision change?

Home windows additionally doesn’t take kindly to overlays or extra software program programs that have to be repeatedly accessed on handhelds, so loading the Ayaspace fast menu is usually a sluggish course of. That is the way in which for Armoury Crate on the ROG Ally and MSI Heart on the Claw too, which means the frequent denominator is Home windows. The truth that Microsoft hasn’t but, to my information, begun engaged on a streamlined handheld-friendly model of its flagship OS is baffling.

One particular concern I’ve with the Ayaneo 3 is the shortcoming to place the gadget to sleep by way of Home windows. The choice merely doesn’t exist if you first boot the console, and upon wanting into this additional, it turned clear that this isn’t the primary time an Ayaneo handheld has had this drawback. Nevertheless, the repair is easy, you simply want to go into the facility and sleep settings in Home windows and alter them so the choice for “When energy button is pressed” is switched from Hibernate to Sleep. It’s fairly annoying to have to do that, and I ponder what number of will overlook this repair and simply assume {that a} sleep perform is lacking.

Show and sound

The Ayaeno 3 comes with a 7-inch, 144Hz OLED show with 800nits world brightness, and HDR true colour. I’ve beforehand acknowledged in my ROG Ally X assessment that cramming extra element right into a 1080p show over the Steam Deck OLED’s 800p display screen greater than offsets the colour accuracy and readability of the show.

With the Ayaneo 3, nevertheless, the 1080p OLED display screen is a giant addition, and the standard of this show when gaming is unbelievable because of the true blacks, extra vibrant colours, and excessive distinction ratios. The 7-inch show is a limitation in terms of the show high quality, as whereas it has a local 1080p decision, it might nonetheless generally really feel compact, and video games which are usually darker can require a little bit of brightness and gamma tuning to get the most effective out of them.

The system is ready to scale Home windows by 175% as a default, however I discovered the candy spot to be 125%, both means, you’re not caught with Home windows zoomed in by default and this may be adjusted within the decision settings menu.

In the meantime, two front-facing HyperSound 2.0 panoramic audio system are all of the Ayaeno 3 has to supply on the audio entrance, however they pack an unbelievable punch. This can be a remarkably loud handheld, competing even with my gaming screens’ built-in audio system, however most notable is the retention of high quality, even at excessive volumes.

That is most notable in a sport reminiscent of The Crew Motorsport. There’s one thing intensely satisfying about revving the engine of a 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429, and the sensory overload of the Ayaneo 3 kicks in with its crystal clear audio and haptic suggestions from the triggers and vibration motor.

At a 30cm distance, the Ayaneo 3 hit a peak of 86.5dB with the typical sitting at round 81.1dB when enjoying The Crew Motorsport. In a normal media check, film playback hit related numbers with an 85.1dB peak and a 79.9dB common. That is in comparison with a 76.1dB max and 74.9dB common from the MSI Claw 8 AI+ when enjoying the identical sport.
Storage

The Ayaneo 3 comes with anyplace from 512GB to 4TB of SSD storage. No matter which storage possibility you buy, you’re getting a PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 SSD, which is easy sufficient to broaden, however the course of is long-winded. It is going to require a full Home windows reinstall which suggests having a duplicate of Home windows on a flash drive able to go.

I didn’t hit any bottlenecks with downloading video games and in-game loading occasions are on par with that of my gaming PC which homes the same model SSD. You too can broaden your storage utilizing a microSD card. Any 4.0 microSD card, or older, will work with obtain speeds of as much as 300MB/s.

Efficiency

The typical body charges throughout the examined video games don’t fairly inform the entire story, which I’ll contact on in a second, however total these efficiency figures are very spectacular contemplating there’s the potential for extra energy that may very well be squeezed out of the Ayaeno 3, in case you’re prepared to spend the time optimizing clock speeds and adjusting CPU core utilization. I as an alternative used a profile and settings that gave the most effective quick efficiency throughout a number of TDP ranges.

The place the Ayaeno 3 shines in its efficiency is body charge stability. Whereas testing the MSI Claw 8 AI+ alongside this handheld, I observed that always the utmost and minimal body charge would all the time be a lot additional aside on the Claw than the Ayaneo 3. For example, in Murderer’s Creed Mirage, the 900p, excessive settings benchmark returned a mean body charge of 63fps on the Ayaneo 3, and 55fps on the Claw. Nevertheless, the Claw has a most body charge of 80fps and a minimal of simply 5 whereas the Ayaneo has a most of 91 and a minimal of 15fps.

It’s this stability that’s essential in graphically demanding video games reminiscent of Cyberpunk 2077, the place the Claw managed to outperform the Ayaeno in lots of common body charge checks, however visually, there was much more stuttering and ghosting when enjoying on the Claw vs the a lot smoother efficiency on the Ayaeno.

The show of the Ayaneo 3 lends itself effectively to enabling AMD FSR on the High quality setting as a result of this implies you’re solely dropping the native decision right down to 720p, earlier than it’s upscaled again to 1080p. This leads to little or no picture distortion when utilizing it, which generally means you’re higher off sticking to 1080p with upscaling moderately than decreasing your decision. That is the place the Steam Deck generally struggles as its default 1,280 x 800 show with upscaling enabled means you’re dropping the rendered decision to round 1,040 x 650.

I used a customized energy profile to check these video games on the Ayaneo 3. I left the CPU and GPU clock speeds on their default settings, saved the CPU enhance possibility turned off, and left the followers on auto to see how they managed warmth dispersion beneath a heavy load. I additionally divided up the system reminiscence to permit for 16GB of devoted graphics reminiscence. I’d have chosen 12GB, however the AMD Adrenalin Version software program solely allowed for 8GB or 16GB.

Outdoors of benchmarking, the core gaming efficiency of the Ayaneo 3 will see you reaching a stable 50-60fps in loads of triple-A video games like Baldur’s Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Warhammer 40,000 Area Marine 2, Ghost of Tsushima, God of Battle Ragnarok, and plenty of extra.

Optimizing settings for the Ayaneo 3 is so easy as a result of generally the medium graphics profile is ideal for the console at 25W and above. I not often discovered myself having to tweak particular person settings to get the most effective efficiency, and in older video games like Skyrim and Fallout 4, you’ll be able to simply push into greater graphical settings if you want, simply be cautious that the battery gained’t final too lengthy.

Pushing for greater graphical constancy will naturally convey efficiency down, however as seen within the above benchmarks, it’s fully playable, with Cyberpunk 2077 operating at 30fps utilizing the Extremely settings and AMD FSR 3.0 set to High quality. Once more, one thing that must be seen reside to be appreciated is the flexibility of this efficiency, with subsequent to no stutter or body tearing even when pushing the Ayaneo 3 past its consolation degree.

The place I discover myself always compromising to get massive video games operating on the Steam Deck OLED, or tweaking minor settings on the MSI Claw 8 AI+ to maximise efficiency, this isn’t the case on the Ayaneo 3. There’s room to push efficiency additional in case you’re prepared to drop the decision, push FSR into Efficiency modes, or tinker with a customized {hardware} profile, however no matter whether or not I’m prioritizing graphics or efficiency, the Ayaneo 3 is able to assembly my wants.

In the meantime, on the cooling entrance, the automated fan setting works effectively however units the followers to full energy a bit preemptively at greater TPD settings. This does stop the Ayaneo 3 from getting too scorching, too shortly although.

In abstract, the Ayaeno 3’s efficiency is nice from a mean body charge standpoint, standing tall towards the likes of the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and Asus ROG Ally X, however it’s the efficiency stability that’s its crowning achievement.

Battery life

The battery lifetime of the Ayaneo 3 is middling at finest. That is principally right down to the truth that it’s too highly effective for its modest 49Wh battery, particularly in comparison with the 80Wh battery within the ROG Ally X and MSI Claw 8 AI+.

When benchmarking Cyberpunk 2077 at 30W, the best TDP with out being plugged in, the battery lasted round 40 minutes. In additional real looking gaming situations, say one the place I used to be enjoying Two Level Campus on the 18W TDP on its highest settings, the battery lasted for nearer to a few hours. It is going to all the time come right down to the TDP setting and the facility calls for of the sport you could have loaded.

A battery bypass possibility is offered, which is able to enable the Ayaneo 3 to be powered completely by the included 65W charger, with out additionally making an attempt to make use of up the battery. If you happen to don’t allow battery bypass, the battery will nonetheless deplete even when plugged in in case you’re utilizing the Ayaneo 3 at round 25W or greater, and this might injury the long-term well being of the battery.

Whereas there are not any efficiency advantages, I all the time used the battery bypass possibility when docking the Ayaneo 3, or utilizing the gadget at 35W, to forestall harming the battery. Discovering and activating the choice can be tremendous straightforward given how the Ayaspace fast menu works.

Worth

The Ayaneo 3 configuration that I examined prices $1,499 / £1,185. Fashions vary from $699 with no extra modular controls to $2,099 with controls included. The prices additionally depend upon the chosen display screen, system reminiscence, storage, and APU. Each mannequin is offered by way of Indiegogo for an early entry funding marketing campaign, and $200-$300 will be saved per mannequin.

There’s no avoiding that this price is intimidating, particularly when a handheld I’ve recognized as being near the Ayaneo 3, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ solely prices $899 / £899. Nevertheless, the distinction in energy, show and sound high quality, storage choices, and even the modular controls do add up when it comes to worth (though it’s nonetheless fairly ridiculous that they aren’t included with most fashions.)

Options

MSI Claw 8 AI+

A mammoth gadget, the MSI Claw is a detailed second to the Ayaneo 3 in terms of Home windows handhelds. It’s Intel-powered, which in some instances limits the flexibility to completely handle energy and reminiscence the identical means you’ll be able to with an AMD gadget, however it’s well-tuned from the start and its AI Engine is a giant win for first-time handheld house owners. Efficiency-wise, the Claw 8 AI+ generally outperforms the Ayaneo 3, however typically with a extra unstable body charge, though its enormous 80Wh battery and AI Engine efficiency administration are enormous wins for the hand held.

Steam Deck

If there’s one factor the Ayaneo 3 has strengthened for me, it’s that the Steam Deck is an effective way to get began with gaming handhelds, however its limitations have gotten very clear, particularly on the facility entrance. If you happen to’re in search of a easy, handholding introduction to handhelds, the Steam Deck is right, and it comes at a closely decreased price as compared, however you gained’t be enjoying the newest triple-A video games on first rate settings at 1080p on it.

Verdict

No different handheld I’ve used has both impressed me or pissed off me as a lot because the Ayaneo 3. Stepping again, I acknowledge that these moments of frustration are solely right down to the Home windows working system. Regardless of this, when the Ayaneo 3 is on type, there isn’t a handheld that comes near it for steady efficiency from a body charge and graphical perspective.

The OLED show is gorgeous, the audio system are extremely loud however, extra importantly, very clear, and the final really feel is ideal with it not being too heavy or sitting awkwardly in hand.

Its improvements are additionally greater than a gimmick. Management modularity isn’t one thing I had thought-about could be necessary in a handheld gaming PC till Ayaneo offered it so effectively within the 3, it’s only a disgrace it comes at an added price which may come near an eye-watering $2,000 for the best spec fashions.

It’s not the right gaming handheld, however the Ayaneo 3 is a large assertion in a market that’s changing into oversaturated. Most of the fixes I’d need from the Ayaneo 3 are software program or OS-related, which means future updates might effectively place this handheld into a category of its personal.

There isn’t any denying that the Ayaneo 3 surpasses the Steam Deck in efficiency and with its show. Nevertheless, the core usability and compatibility of the working system is a actuality test that simply exhibits how good SteamOS really is, and the way Home windows limits the Ayaneo 3 from ever hitting its full potential.